ORIGIN - Just This Side Of Chaos

V-CORUNDUM-ONE

The hot pink stone that had gradually swollen with life was a stark slash of blinding color in this otherwise forbidding tunnel. The shadows that gathered here were nothing compared to those in the voidlight a hundred yards off, past the Door, and the corundum was more like an open wound (or a boil) than anything dark or sinister.

She didn't know that, of course. She knew she'd been content in sleeping, or... probably so. She was waking, now, but it was warm, comfortable, and she couldn't remember not having been content, at least. It was a little tight, though, and now and then she stretched or flexed in a half-conscious manner, pressing against the thinned shell around her.

She flexed and turned, and yawned in the dark, lungs still filled with fluid. But it was all still tight around her. She needed more room. When flexing and pushing didn't do it, she sought another power. It came, though she had no idea what it was: a spark from the chunk of stone that had broken free from her shell, but was still firmly bound to her spine. It flared outward, curling into the foliage around the stone. Vines slithered over the chrysalis, squeezing, and a branch of some nearby tree prodded and scraped at the surface. After a few moments one or the other broke through, the released plants sliding back to where they belonged as the gemstone cracked away.

The child tumbled out: a large butterball of a beast, spiky and slicked dark with wet as she coughed and shivered. She hadn't known it was going to be cold! And what was this, anyway? Four eyes opened, squinting a rosy glow as she peered around her.

Nope. This wasn't the inside of a rock anymore.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

He was waiting, of course: silent, looming. Just observing, for now. He could tell this one was about to hatch--the others he expected in an hour or two. Maybe half a day, a day. But this one was...

He caught a glimpse of movement, and tensed subtly. Any moment now.
So fixed were his eyes upon the chrysalis that he actually startled when he registered movement in his peripheral instead--the snaking of a vine toward the stone. He shot to his feet an instant later, stepping at first back in reflex, then forward with the intent to rip it away from the child's stone. He stopped himself just in time, recognizing--or at least guessing--what was going on. ...Magic? Already? From inside the stone and--not only that, but was this the random hand of Chaos?

He reflexively reached his senses outward to check that the child was uncorrupted--but no, it was not. He could sense that without trying. So-...

Any further thought was interrupted by the crack of stone and tumble of body, and the Leviathan reached down to steady the child further upright just as it looked up. "Welcome, little one!" he boomed, already examining it, gauging its design and build. At once he was pleased. There was bulk, but plenty of spines, sharp claws, and the toxic blood his line was known for. Yet she held clear signs of the mammalian, too; the thick fur, the large ears, the bushy tail. He'd imagined what a Mystfox might be like--and hoped it (and the other) would be a good complement to his own form. Swift, able to easily conceal itself, fiercely predatory. And from all appearances, he'd been lucky.

"Your name is V-Corundum-One. I am Master Vargas. You are one of the Chaos Forge, and your task is to aid this Forge in its tasks, and to train and learn among us as you grow. Do you understand-?" It was half a test, to see how its comprehension of language was, right off the bat. And it was also an important first lesson, if it did understand.

V-CORUNDUM-ONE

She blinked unevenly up at the monster looming there--something with deep-voiced sounds and glowing bits still all blurred from her chrysalis's fluids. After a moment her new, struggling brain caught up with him, sort of putting together the sounds that he was making into some semblance of coherent meaning.

"Veee," she began to echo, and then gave up. She was V. He was obviously also V.

Cool. Done.

She pushed up, and immediately toppled, hind limbs trembling and sliding so her haunches flopped to the ground. With a grunt she forced herself up again, toddling to him like a puppy, determined to inspect him closer.

The massive, hook-clawed feet were interesting, and the only thing in reach, so she investigated in the only manner instinct provided: she bit them. Not hard, but a sort of sidelong gnawing.

They tasted gross and she immediately let go, sitting back with a "Pthwah!" and a disgusted expression on her face.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Before he could pluck her free, she'd released her gnawing grip. He snorted and lived her by the scruff, then set her down gently in front of him. "Come. You have siblings yet to hatch. Let us go and wait for them. Then we will all find food," he added, pushing up.

He began to stalk slowly down the tunnel, past the Door of Life, glancing back to see if the child would follow on her own, or if he'd have to carry her.

V-CORUNDUM-ONE

She let out a short squeal, limbs flailing, as she suddenly lost the ground. But then she was set down again and immediately forgot her fear, settling baack with a grunt.

...Oh. They were leaving-? She glanced around, then pushed up to half-trundle, half-gallop clumsily after him, falling repeatedly. Mischief took her, too. She was attuned fairly well to her magic, aware of it, and she thrust it around her with a flash. She wasn't sure what it was meant to do, but when she illuminated herself in brilliant, blinding flares of hot pink, she had to stop and squeeze her eyes shut.

"Ow," she informed the world in protest.

She'd had some vague idea she could hide and pounce Vargas in play, but this wasn't hiding at all.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas glanced back, then flinched, lifting an arm to shield his eyes. 'Ow' indeed. With another grunt he strode back, lifting the child by the scruff for a second time. The cerata on her back made it hard to safely do without harming the child, but after a moment's rearranging he held the blinding-bright ball of pink light in the crook of his arm. "Be careful with your magic," he advised dryly, before setting off again.

Some part of him still dwelt on his wager with the hyena Giggle, on the unhatched twin not far from here, and on his traumatizing ten-minute interaction with the one that had hatched. He vaguely wondered if he should acknowledge Giggle as the 'winner' and 'begrudgingly allow' her to offer her advice.

Enough of the Forge's children had turned out so screwed up; he didn't want to ruin this lot, too.

Though this one--for now, at least--seemed perfectly content, if... overly lit up.

He locked that thought away, for now, and made his way up the tunnel for Draco, looking to see if The Pestilence would be yet ready to hatch.

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